Firecracker
by TheThistleQueen
Summary: A short companion to "Fresh Laundry and Ink". It's Lottie Fraser's first year at Hogwarts. Remus Lupin is in his final year. When they meet for the first time, they have no idea that their paths will cross again in the future. For now, he's just a Prefect and she's just a crazy little girl who stood up to James Potter.


**Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews on** _ **Fresh Laundry and Ink**_ **! As promised, here is your one shot involving Remus and Lottie circa 1977. Enjoy!**

* * *

Remus was quite tired as he finished off his first round of Prefect duty for the year. He hadn't been able to sleep on the train like he usually did because Padfoot hadn't been able to shut up for a single moment about all of the girls he planned to shag this year. This was funny to Remus, seeing as Sirius hadn't gone any farther than feeling a girl up under her shirt before. He was sworn to secrecy, but it was hard to contain his smirk whenever Sirius bragged to the other boys in Gryffindor. He knew that James found it amusing, too, but would never tell a soul. Peter, being unable to keep secrets most of the time, was kept in the dark, and always listened avidly, as if he'd pick up some sort of womanizing skill just by listening to Sirius.

It was late when Remus finally did step through the portrait hole, so he was quite surprised to hear an unusual commotion in the common room. A highly-pitched female voice rang through the room, and Remus could hear a few snickers. As he finally made it completely he inside, he saw the cause of the commotion.

James was sitting on the floor in front of the steps to the girls' dormitories, which had been transformed into the slide that indicated a boy had tried to get up. This was not unusual. James tried time and again to sneak up to see Lily even before they were dating; he was convinced that he could find a way to get around the enchantment. However, this time, it wasn't Lily standing at the bottom lecturing the dark haired teenager. No, Lily was at the top of the stairs, holding in laughter as best as she could. The girl at the bottom of the stairs this evening was someone else entirely.

Remus recognized her from the sorting as a first year student. She was very small for an eleven year old, and her curly red hair went wild around her face as she told off the older boy, arms flying and face red.

"-dare you try to sneak into the girls' dormitories? I don't care if she is your girlfriend; there are plenty of other girls up there too! How would you feel if I tried to go sneaking around your dormitory at night without any warning whatsoever?" Remus snorted as James flushed under the verbal assault.

"I'm sorry."

"You'd better be!" the girl huffed, crossing her arms. "Your mother would be ashamed of you."

"That's enough, Lottie," Lily called, sliding down the stairs to stand next to the younger girl. The girl, Lottie, frowned and looked at Lily.

"But the rules are-"

"I know what the rules are, and so do you," Lily assured her. "James also knows the rules, but he's a prat who can't follow them. His skull's also too thick to learn anything; you're just wasting your breath at this point."

"Hey!" James complained, starting to get up to defend himself. Lily shot him a look and he immediately stopped.

"Has he ever actually made it up before?" Lottie asked, eyeing James suspiciously.

"Not even once," Lily promised with a laugh. "It's actually quite entertaining. He broke his nose once when he slid down."

"Alright," Lottie replied, relaxing slightly. The stairs had returned to their usual state by this point, and she made to go up. After about two steps, though, she turned around and pointed a finger at James. "But if you ever do make it up, I promise that I will bat bogey hex you every single day for the rest of the school year!"

"I'd like to see you try," James muttered as she climbed the stairs. As soon as she was up, all of the older students burst into laughter, excluding the embarrassed Mr. Potter, who messed up his hair and pouted.

"She's going to be a real firecracker when she's older," Sirius noted, waggling his eyebrows. "Maybe if I start now-"

"She's eleven, Padfoot!" Peter groaned, retching a little at the idea. Sirius grinned.

"Exactly, but by the time she's seventeen, if I've already started to woo her, she'll be putty in my hands!"

"You're disgusting," Lily told him bluntly, reaching to fix James' glasses for him. Remus turned to Lily.

"How did you know her name?"

"She's Will Fraser's little sister," Lily replied, and the boys' jaws dropped.

" _The_ Will Fraser?" James asked, astonished. "Will Fraser, the old Quidditch captain?"

"Will Fraser the old Head Boy?" Remus asked. Lily nodded. "That explains a lot about what just happened."

"Well there goes my plan," Sirius grumbled. "Will would kick my ass if he found out I was trying to get with his baby sister."

"I would kick your ass first," Lily promised, smiling sweetly. "Now come on; we need to start on Slughorn's project now if we want to finish in time."

"I'm not even taking Potions," Peter whined as the group made for the low couches near the fire.

"Then you'll learn something new," Remus replied, still thinking about that little girl. She was certainly going to be a handful.

* * *

"I'm going to get you, Jenny!" Lottie giggled as she ran after her new friend with a massive snowball in her gloved hand. The first big snow of the year had happened, and the entirety of Gryffindor house had made their way into the blustery outdoors, along with a few assorted students from the other houses. Some students were huddled together, gossiping about which professors were secretly in love with students and which students were going to fail their exams. Others were simply enjoying the presence of their friends before the holidays came and some parted ways. Still others, like Lottie, were engaged in the age old game of the snowball fight.

"You can't catch me, Fraser!" Jenny taunted, sticking her tongue out at Lottie and ducking behind a pillar just in time to avoid a face full of snow. Lottie quickly scooped up another handful of the stuff and fired without thinking. However, it wasn't Jenny who had gasped in surprise.

"Oh, Merlin," Lottie breathed, her face flushing as she watched Remus Lupin shake the snow from his hair. She had snowballed a prefect. She was really going to get it now. "Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you, I swear, but my friend was there just a second ago and my mother will never forgive me if I lose house points because she was a Gryffindor too, you know, and my dad was a Ravenclaw but that's kind of beside the point-"

"You can breathe!" Remus cut her off with a laugh, smiling down at her. He was a very tall seventeen year old. She was a very small eleven year old. Lottie felt more like a child than she had all year. "I won't deduct any points, especially not from my own house. Just be careful where you're throwing next time, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Lottie squeaked. "Er, I mean, yes, Mr. Lupin. Wait, no, that's not right either! Thanks-" She realized that he was already walking away, and she began to breathe more easily. "Remus."

"Lottie!" She turned to see Jenny bounding up to her, looking a bit impressed. "What were you talking to Remus Lupin for?"

"I hit him with my snowball," Lottie groaned, covering her face as Jenny laughed.

"You know, he's not the worst looking of the older boys," Jenny noted, and Lottie gagged.

"He's six years older than us, Jen! That's ages! He's almost as old as Joey!"

"Joey's pretty cute too…."

"Hands off my brother, Trotter."

"Fine. But you know, that Sirius Black-"

"Is also much too old! Besides, everyone knows you have a thing for Will Baker."

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Liar!"

* * *

 **Short. Sweet. Just a fun little flashback. Thank you all so much for the reviews! I can't begin to express how much I appreciate them. You are all the best, and I'm so glad you like what I do. In answer to a question from hufflepuffpower93 (Hufflepuffs of the world, unite!), I do plan on continuing this story past PoA. How? Through when? Will Remus and Lottie actually be together for any of it? Stay tuned in to** _ **Fresh Laundry and Ink**_ **to find out!**


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